55 on the fly

Making some rabbit dubbing the old fashion way.... Hunted with my good friend Eric and his dogs today. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Rabbits are excellent eating too.... we make them into hot dogs or as we say; "rabbit dogs".

My son Scott and I hunted down in Cherry Creek, NY this weekend..... Scott shot this big old field gobbler on Saturday.   Nothing like a hunt with your son, quality time in the woods and the bonus of some good eating..... 8 inch beard, 3/4 inch spurs and one very, very wet turkey  ;-) Even though it rained non-stop all weekend we saw several more birds and a bunch of deer as well. 

Today was an excellent morning to be out in the woods.  I harvested several squirrels, both red and gray's for fly tying dubbing and the tails. My old 22 LR did the job. There's nothing like a little lunch in the woods.

This is a variation of my Korn's Wrapped Foam Hopper that I tie for Parks Fly Shop.  It makes a super Salmon fly and you can use the same pattern for Golden Stone flies as well.  I just change the hook to a size 8-10 and the foam over body to a golden yellow.  Out West it's a killer fly when the Salmon flies are hatching and in the East for the small Spring Black Stone flies. I just change the color and downsize them to size 12... Materials: Hook: MFCo. 7026 4-6 Thread: black 6/0 Uni Legs: MFC med. black legs Underbody: orange craft foam wrapped Over body: black or dark brown craft foam, hook gap wide with split-tail Wing: deer tail hair Indicator: orange craft foam SBS tie in back legs split tie in underbody foam at eye extending out from hook superglue thread base, wrap orange foam back to tail-legs attach over body with 3 wraps at tail-legs, then loop thread over the top of the underbody to the eye (this way no wraps ...

The RS2 has always been a good producer for me... I tie them to represent many different Mayflies from Green Drakes to Trico's.  The only thing that changes is the color of the thorax and the size of the hook. Hook: #1560 12-24, wet fly (1x long) Thread: UTC 70 Wing: fluff from base of dun rooster or turkey feather Tail: pearl flash, tied split Abdomen: rusty brown dubbing, rabbit Thorax: PMD dubbing, rabbit

Here's my latest: Red Oak Delrin mouth piece 38 special brass This trumpet has the slender shape and call tone that I have been striving for.  I really like the way this one came out.  Now I will try to replicate it and be consistent from call to call...  thanks for taking a look.... Doug

More practice on the lathe.  I turned this trumpet of Spalted Maple in a more classic style...